Ditch Maintenance Assessments
How is ditch maintenance funded?
Ditch maintenance is funded by assessments to landowners who have drainage benefiting from a ditch improvement that has previously been constructed. These assessments are collected by the Paulding County Auditor on your real estate taxes as a special assessment. This assessment helps to maintain the ditch in good order such as mowing, spraying, clearing brush, dipout, and much more.
How are my assessments figured?
Landowner assessments are figured using a formula which considers factors such as: acres drained, land use, soil type, tile drainage, topography, and percent of usage of the ditch. The following is a description of each of these factors:
Acres Drained
Only the physical acreage of each landowner’s property within the actual watershed boundary is considered in determining making assessments. This includes farmland, woods, pastures, house lots, parking lots, roads, etc.
Tile Drainage
This considers whether the land in the watershed area is tiled and whether the tile drains to or away from the open ditch project.
Topography/Remoteness Consideration
The actual distance your runoff water must first travel before even reaching the ditch improvement is a determining factor on how your land is assessed. The longer the distance it takes for your water to reach the ditch improvement, the lower that ground is assessed.
Land Use
Each tract of land contributing runoff water to the proposed improvement is assessed according to the amount of water that is actually being generated from that tract of land. High runoff areas such as roads, parking lots, residential areas, etc., are assessed at a higher rate than the lower runoff areas such as farm ground and woodland regions, due to the fact that more runoff water is being produced from those higher runoff areas.
Soil Type
The soil type of your land draining into the project is determined using the Paulding County Soil Survey. Soils having low runoff potential and high infiltration rates even when thoroughly wetted — such as sands and gravels will have a lower assessment factor than soils having high runoff potential that have very low infiltration rates when thoroughly wetted — such as clay soils.
Use of the Ditch Improvement
You only help share the cost of the ditch improvement that your runoff water travels through. You will have no responsibility to help share the cost of construction being done upstream from where your water enters the ditch.